LiNiO<sub>2</sub> Thin Films Fabricated by Diffusion of Li on Ni Tapes

Abstract

LiNiO2 thin films for the application of cathode of the rechargeable battery were fabricated by Li ion diffusion on the surface oxidized NiO layer. Bi-axially textured Ni-tapes with 50 ~ 80 μm thickness were fabricated using cold rolling and annealing of Ni-rod prepared by cold isostatic pressing of Ni powder. Surface oxidation of Ni-tapes were conducted using tube furnace or line-focused infrared heater at 700 °C for 150 sec in flowing oxygen atmosphere, resulted in NiO layer with thickness of 400 and 800 μm, respectively. After Li was deposited on the NiO layer by thermal evaporation, LiNiO2 was formed by Li diffusion through the NiO layer during subsequent heat treatment using IR heater with various heat treatment conditions. IR-heating resulted in the smoother surface and finer grain size of NiO and LiNiO2 layer compared to the tube-furnace heating. The average grain size of LiNiO2 layer was 0.5~1 μm, which is much smaller than that of sol-gel processed LiNiO2. The reacted LiNiO2 region showed homogeneous composition throughout the thickness and did not show any noticeable defects frequently found in the solid state reacted LiNiO2, but crack and delamination between the reacted LiNiO2 and Ni occurred as the reaction time increased above 4hrs.